Asceua zijin Lin & Li, 2023

Wang, Wei, Lin, Yejie, Zhang, Xiaoqing, Chu, Chang, Li, Shuqiang & Huang, Chengming, 2023, Two new species of the genus Asceua Thorell, 1887 (Araneae, Zodariidae) from China, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 103298-103298 : 103298

Asceua zijin Lin & Li, 2023 sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Fan Gao; sex: male; occurrenceID: D22DAF21-8C47-5E82-B8BC-DDBD8CC8ACBC; Location : country: China; stateProvince: Jiangsu; locality: Nanjing City , Xuanwu District , Zijin Mountain ; verbatimElevation: 75 m; verbatimCoordinates: N32.0794°, E118.8298°; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; Event: year: 2019; month: 12; day: 13; Record Level: institutionID: IZCAS-Ar 44414 Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Fan Gao; sex: female; occurrenceID: 989B35C2-6891-546B-A70D-ACD332C95103; Location : country: China; stateProvince: Jiangsu; locality: Nanjing City , Xuanwu District , Zijin Mountain ; verbatimElevation: 75 m; verbatimCoordinates: N32.0794°, E118.8298°; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; Event: year: 2019; month: 12; day: 13; Record Level: institutionID: IZCAS-Ar44415

Description

Male (holotype). Total length 3.33; carapace 1.56 long, 1.17 wide, opisthosoma 1.77 long, 1.03 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.07, ALE 0.06, PME 0.07, PLE 0.07, AME-AME 0.06, AME-ALE 0.06, PME-PME 0.09, PME-PLE 0.14, AME-PME 0.13, ALE-PLE 0.05. MOA 0.26 long, front width 0.17, back width 0.22. Clypeus height 0.40. Chelicerae with 2 promarginal teeth. Leg measurements: I 4.12 (1.06, 0.37, 1.01, 1.03, 0.65), II 3.69 (0.99, 0.38, 0.84, 0.91, 0.57), III 3.41 (0.96, 0.41, 0.70, 0.88, 0.46), IV 4.38 (1.17, 0.42, 1.06, 1.18, 0.55).

Colouration (Fig. 8 A, B). Carapace brown, middle with two oblong black-brown spots. Chelicerae, endites, labium and sternum brown. Legs yellow-brown. Opisthosoma oval, black, dorsum with three pairs of pale oblong spots, second one largest, followed by a pale spot. Spinnerets black.

Palp (Figs 5 , 6 b). Tibia two times longer than patella. Tibia with two apophyses; ventral tibial apophysis digitiform; retrolateral tibial apophysis bifurcate, ventral ramus digitiform, transverse, dorsal ramus sickle-shaped. Cymbium almost 1.5 times longer than wide. Cymbial furrow wide, almost as wide as cymbium in retrolateral view. Tegulum almost oblong. Tegular apophysis with two lateral processes. Conductor membranous, with a prolateral apophysis. Embolus slender and whip-like. Base of embolus large, with membranous prolateral part, arising at the 6:30 o'clock position.

Female (IZCAS-Ar44415). Total length 3.98; carapace 1.70 long, 1.16 wide, opisthosoma 2.28 long, 1.38 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.06, ALE 0.08, PME 0.07, PLE 0.08, AME-AME 0.06, AME-ALE 0.08, PME-PME 0.09, PME-PLE 0.15, AME-PME 0.15, ALE-PLE 0.04. MOA 0.27 long, front width 0.16, back width 0.23. Clypeus height 0.42. Chelicerae with 2 promarginal teeth. Leg measurements: I 3.70 (1.00, 0.39, 0.86, 0.85, 0.60), II 3.45 (0.95, 0.41, 0.75, 0.80, 0.54), III 3.40 (0.93, 0.44, 0.70, 0.88, 0.45), IV 4.23 (1.10, 0.44, 1.00, 1.12, 0.57).

Colouration (Fig. 8 C, D). Similar to that of male, except paler.

Epigyne (Fig. 7 ). Epigynal plate as long as wide, with a hood anteriorly, the hood almost 1.5 times longer than wide. Copulatory openings located on anterior portion of epigyne. Copulatory ducts intertwined, starting part expanded. Spermathecae oval. Fertilisation ducts directed at the 1:00 o'clock position from spermathecae.

Diagnosis

The male is similar to Asceua torquata (Simon, 1909) and A. japonica ( Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) by the same shape of retrolateral tibial apophysis and cymbium, long and slender embolus. Females share the same shape of the copulatory duct. However, the new species can be distinguished from A. torquata by the opisthosoma dorsum with seven pale spots (Fig. 8 ) [vs. four yellow spots, a triangular black spot in the middle of the largest spot (see Zhang and Zhang (2018), figs. 7A, C)] conductor with an apophysis prolaterally and tegular apophysis with a lamellate apophysis (Fig. 6 b) [vs. absent in A. torquata (Fig. 6 a)]. The female can be distinguished from A. torquata and A. japonica by the obvious, semi-circular hood, 1.5 times longer than wide (Fig. 7 B) [vs. oval in A. torquata (see Zhang and Zhang (2018), fig. 8D) and eight times longer than wide in A. japonica (see Ono (2009), fig. 30)] and copulatory ducts starting part expanded (Fig. 7 B) [vs. absent in A. japonica (see Ono (2009), fig. 30)].

Etymology

The specific name refers to the type locality; noun (name) in genitive case.

Distribution

Known only from the type locality (Fig. 9 ).

Figures

Figure 5. Asceua zijin sp. n., holotype male. A Prolateral view; B Ventral view; C Retrolateral view. Abbreviations: C conductor; CF cymbial furrow; E embolus; EB embolic base; RTA retrolateral tibial apophysis; TA tegular apophysis; VTA ventral tibial apophysis.

Figure 7. Asceua zijin sp. n., paratype female. A Epigyne, ventral view; B Vulva, dorsal view. Abbreviations: CD copulatory duct; CO copulatory opening; FD fertilisation duct; H hood; S spermatheca.

Figure 8. Asceua zijin sp. n., male holotype (A, B) and female paratype (C, D), Habitus. A, C Dorsal view; B, D Ventral view.

Figure 9. Distribution records of new Asceua species in China: 1 A. haocongi sp. n.; 2 A. zijin sp. n.